CHAPTER 184: CHAPTER 181: THE FEARFUL MINGLONG_1

"Damn it, why is his strength so formidable?" The Light Ancestor fumed internally. Watching Nie Feng grow stronger with each passing moment in battle, he felt an unbearable frustration. He, who had roamed the world unhindered for hundreds of thousands of years, was actually being defeated by a rising talent. What a disgrace!

Beyond the humiliation, he felt an intense sense of crisis. If he were to fall to Nie Feng, the Divine Court of Light would be in grave danger. Though he had founded the Divine Court of Light and had long since retired from its direct affairs, he still held a deep affection for it.

"Be defeated!" Nie Feng roared, brandishing his battle sword and pursuing relentlessly. The void a few inches from his body was tinged crimson—a manifestation of his dense killing intent, clearly signaling his murderous desire towards the Light Ancestor.

Dark power intertwined! A terrifying Sword Qi emerged, so powerful it seemed capable of cleaving the universe in two. Entwined with the Power of Light and Dark Laws, it threatened to obliterate all things.

"I can’t meet this head-on!" The Light Ancestor’s pupils constricted; the thought of retreat surfaced.

He was old, after all, lacking the reckless tenacity of his youth. Upon sensing danger, his first instinct was not to find a way to counter it, but to escape.

"Light Void Dive!" the Light Ancestor barked. A phantasmal form with a pair of wings appeared behind him. With a slight flap, it shuttled through the void.

Instantly, he vanished!

BOOM!

The Sword Qi struck empty air, crashing into the ground below.

On the vast plain, an immense chasm appeared. Molten magma continuously erupted from the depths, releasing plumes of black smoke and filling the air with the pungent stench of sulfur.

"He runs quite fast!" Nie Feng sneered, floating in mid-air. He then turned and flew back towards the military camp. A Second-Order Saint King intent on escaping was difficult to stop; Nie Feng could only watch helplessly.

"The Battle King is mighty!"

"The Battle King is mighty!"

"The Battle King is mighty..."

The Divine Army soldiers looked up at the returning Nie Feng, cheering wildly, their eyes filled with adoration. In this battle, their General had slain six First-Order Saint Kings and defeated a Second-Order Saint King. It was no exaggeration to say this battle would make him a legend, his fame achieved in this single engagement.

Nie Feng’s fame would spread throughout the surrounding domains, earning him the reverence of countless people.

And they, as soldiers led by Nie Feng, felt an immense honor and were filled with pride!

"Continue to rest and recuperate! Tomorrow morning, we assault the Holy City!" Nie Feng commanded loudly from above the camp, then descended into the central tent.

"General, your wine!" a military officer said respectfully, carefully holding the wine Nie Feng had left on the table before heading into battle. He bowed, his eyes burning with a fanatical devotion, like a pilgrim on a sacred journey.

To them, Nie Feng was a god!

"Everyone, raise your cups! Let’s drink to our victory tomorrow!" Nie Feng said, taking the wine cup and raising it high towards the officers inside the tent.

"Cheers!"

"To the General!"

The officers all raised their wine cups high.

Then, they drained them in one gulp.

For a moment, the tent was thick with battle intent. The General’s aura surged to the heavens, like a fierce tiger about to unleash its roar upon the world.

That day, the Divine Army enjoyed a rare moment of ease.

Meanwhile, the imperial court of the Divine Court of Light was plunged into a deathly silence. The Holy City, still reeling from the recent coup, seemed to have lost all its brilliance; the court was hushed, and the populace silent.

"Ancestor, that scoundrel Nie Feng is set to attack tomorrow!" In the imperial palace, Minglong clutched an intelligence report, his expression exceptionally grim.

For him, the past two days had been a whirlwind of dramatic changes! From the initial joy of seeing the Six Divine Slaves to the current horror of the Light Ancestor’s defeat.

Even the Light Ancestor, a Second-Order Saint King, was not Nie Feng’s match. Who else in the entire Divine Court could possibly defeat the enemy?

"Nie Feng’s power contains both the forces of light and darkness. These two forces are complementary, and his dark power, in particular, perfectly counters my light power. He is indeed a difficult opponent to handle!" the Light Ancestor, seated in the main seat, stated calmly.

"Then what should we do?" Minglong blurted out, panicking and pacing back and forth in the hall. After all, he was still just a youth, lacking experience. Faced with a crisis that concerned the nation’s survival, he naturally panicked.

"Do not panic. Transfer the ten Holy Army Corps to the Holy City. I have my own arrangements!" the Light Ancestor said, his brow furrowing slightly at Minglong’s lack of composure. A dignified sovereign of a nation, master of hundreds of millions of lives, yet he shows no composure and wears all his emotions on his face. Truly unbecoming!

However, at this moment, he had no mind to berate him.

"The Ancestor has a plan? Wonderful! I shall issue the imperial edict at once!" Minglong exclaimed, overjoyed. He hurried to the side to draft the edict, his face wreathed in smiles.

The Light Ancestor sat cross-legged, closing his eyes to rest his spirit.

That evening, ten Holy Army Corps converged and took up defensive positions within the city. From their deployment, the formation was exceedingly profound, hinting at a terrifying power that, once unleashed, would be earth-shattering.

"These are truly eventful times," an old scholar sighed, standing by his window, watching the soldiers surging through the streets and alleys. He then closed the window, as if to shut out the encroaching chaos of war.

Behind him stood his family, young and old, worry etched on every face.

For the common people, war was nothing short of a nightmare.

When rulers win, the people suffer. When rulers lose, the people suffer even more.

「The next day.」

At sunrise, the Divine Army launched its offensive. They swept through the enemy lines like an autumn wind scattering fallen leaves, clearing all resistance encountered. A river of rolling heads seemed to pave the way towards the Holy City.

The path to the Holy City, once thousands of miles long, shrank to a thousand, then to mere hundreds of miles...

By evening, Nie Feng led his grand army to the outskirts of the Holy City, unveiling an offensive formation. The overwhelming Evil Qi surged, piercing through the nine layers of clouds.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP...

The war drums thundered, their sound deafening.

Atop the Holy City’s walls, the Light Ancestor stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Behind him stood ten generals clad in sacred battle armor, among them Great General Li Tianwen!

"Attack! Invade the Holy City!" Nie Feng howled, his sword point aimed at the sky.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" the army roared, launching their charge. A bone-chilling killing intent materialized in the Void, tearing open layers of space.

...

「In the Imperial Capital, within the Lingquan Mustard Seed World.」

Zhuge Liang’s eyes were closed, his body enveloped in a faint Spiritual Energy as he meticulously adjusted his state to its absolute peak.

"It’s time for a breakthrough!"

Once all preparations were complete, Zhuge Liang opened his eyes. He took a deep breath, retrieved a ’Saint Elixir’ from his personal storage space, and swallowed it.

The elixir dissolved within him, transforming into a boundless torrent of energy!

"Eight Trigrams of Heaven and Earth, revolve!" Zhuge Liang mentally commanded, rapidly circulating his Cultivation Technique. He channeled the energy from the ’Saint Elixir’, focusing all his power to charge the bottleneck of the Saint King Realm.

BANG!

Each impact resounded with a dull thud. Ripples of the Power of Laws and torrents of fierce energy surged outwards.

The atmosphere within the entire Lingquan Mustard Seed World grew incredibly oppressive. Fortunately, no one else was cultivating there; otherwise, they would undoubtedly have been crushed by the immense pressure and suffered grievous injuries.

"I hope he succeeds!" Qin Wudao thought with anticipation in the Imperial Study, sensing the energy fluctuations from the Lingquan Mustard Seed World.

A Saint King!

Only by having a Saint King can the Qin Empire cope with all these crises—not just Nie Feng, but also the Scorpion Clan, the Sea Clan, the Qunxian Sect, and others...

Without a Saint King expert, the Qin Empire can only endure being passively attacked!